The emotions of a leader

The Team Formula tells the story of a leader and his new team, following a merger. The power of the story is partly down to the fact that you get to hear what the leader is feeling through his journalling of what’s going on. Here’s an excerpt from one of his journal entries early in the book, after he has had his first team meeting.

Wow, well that didn’t go very well, in fact not at all the way I expected it to go! What on earth am I doing? I thought I had it all in hand. It just didn’t go the way I wanted it to.

Alice said I should write down in this journal how I feel when things don’t go as I expect. I am going to give it a go.

I don’t know why everyone got so defensive. I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when that happened. They all just seemed to focus on their own area; they just weren’t interested in finding solutions or thinking about each other. Why can’t they just work together, the way I want them to? I have to think of something new. They’re all so stuck in their own ways; the old BSers think that BS is best and the old Tightrope team think that they’re the best. How am I going to make this work? I can see the best of both worlds, why can’t they see it too? I have to think about how I can make them see what I see. Maybe I should be more prepared for these defensive reactions when I am in meetings? Perhaps I could spend more time preparing for how they will react before the next meeting?

Helmut is demanding more from me and keeps telling me we have to improve our results. If I don’t get this sorted out it seems like Helmut will have my head on a plate.

The process of writing down what’s going on, helps you look at things more objectively. It’s as if you can take a step away from it and take a fresh new look at it, when it’s down on paper. If you’re not doing it already, try it out!

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